[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Frankenstein Monster
Steve Pushak wrote:
> I chuckled when I read Michael Rubin's comments about creating a
> Frankenstein's monster with all those Jobe's Sticks (that is a LOT). The
> good news : just in time for Halloween Michael !!! :-) HA HA HA!!
We aim to please, Steve. <g> For those who missed it, I placed 8 Jobes
plants sticks in my 50g tank without realizing that amount represented a LOT
of plant food, and it turned my cute little E. bleheri into a budding giant
of an Amazon Sword. Big surprise there.
The reason I'm chiming in here is that I've hit a curious paradox in my
experimentation. It appears visually that I've accelerated my entire tank's
metabolism. The demand for fertilizer and nutients has really increased and
the plants all look better (redder reds, greener greens, swordier swords,
etc.). Growth seems to have slowed, though, dispite the continuous demand
for nutients. Some plants seem to have benefited nicely from the enriched
environment, but I just completed a careful pruning of rotten leaves and
some runaway Hemianthus <sigh> and the pile of cuttings wouldn't fill an
orange juice glass. My CO2 swing is almost nil, staying at 6.75 most of the
time, tending to support my observation that growth has slowed.
So where the heck are all those nutrients disappearing to? Is my tank just
waiting for me to turn my back on it for a day or two before exploding? As
Steve put it, just in time for Halloween!
---------------------------------------------
michael rubin
michael at rubinworld_com
http://www.rubinworld.com